Yuki Soma

Age and gender differences in correlations of leisure-time, household, and work-related physical activity with physical performance in older Japanese adults.

This study aimed to compare relationships of leisure‐time, household, and work‐related physical activity (PA) with physical performance by age and gender in older Japanese adults.

Relationship between built environment attributes and physical function in Japanese community-dwelling older adults

To explore the relationships between the built environment and older adults’ physical function.

Change in hand dexterity and habitual gait speed reflects cognitive decline over time in healthy older adults: a longitudinal study

[Purpose] There is a relationship between physical and cognitive functions; therefore, impairment of physical function would mean cognitive decline. This study aimed to investigate the association between change in physical and cognitive functions. [Subjects and Methods] Participants were 169 healthy community-dwelling older adults who attend the survey after three years from baseline (mean age, 72.4 ± 4.8 years). Grip strength, one-leg standing balance, five-times-sit-to-stand test, timed up and go, 5-m habitual walk, and a peg-moving task were used to evaluate physical performance. Five cognitive function tests were used to assess attention, memory, visuospatial function, verbal fluency, and reasoning. Cognitive function was defined as the cumulative score of these tests. [Results] At baseline, five-times-sit-to-stand test, timed up and go, and hand dexterity were independently associated with cognitive function. In longitudinal analyses, changes in habitual walking speed and hand dexterity were significantly associated with change in cognitive function. [Conclusion] Deterioration of specific physical function, such as hand dexterity and walking ability, may be associated with progression of cognitive decline. Decreasing extent of daily functions, such as hand dexterity and walking ability, can be useful indices to grasp changes in cognitive function.

PHYSICAL SIGN FOR DETECTING COGNITIVE DECLINE IN COMMUNITY-DWELLING OLDER ADULTS

PHYSICAL SIGN FOR DETECTING COGNITIVE DECLINE IN COMMUNITY-DWELLING OLDER ADULTS T. Abe1, Y. Soma3, N. Kitano4, T. Jindo4, A. Sato1, K. Tsunoda5, T. Tsuji6, T. Okura1, 1. University of Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan, 3. Hirosaki University, Aomori, Japan, 4. Physical Fitness Research Institute, Meiji Yasuda Life Foundation of Health and Welfare, Tokyo, Japan, 5. Yamaguchi Prefectural University, Yamaguchi, Japan, 6. Chiba University, Chiba, Japan Previous cohort studies that investigated the association between physical and cognitive function conducted only either physical or cognitive assessment in their follow up survey. Therefore, the relationship between changes in physical and cognitive functions is unclear. The study aimed to investigate whether change in physical functions is associated with change in cognitive function. In this study, the data was obtained from the Kasama study, a cohort study in Japan; and the follow up period was 3 years. Only older adults without cognitive impairment at baseline were included and 131 participants (72.2 ± 4.7 yrs.) were eligible. We used 6 physical performance tests: grip strength, one-leg standing balance, 5 times sit-to-stand, timed up and go, 5-m habitual walk, and peg moving task to measure physical function. To measure cognitive function, five tests were administered including tests of attention, memory, visuospatial function, verbal fluency, and reasoning. The total score was defined as cognitive function. Multiple regression analyses were conducted. We entered change in cognitive function as dependent variable and each of the change in physical function as independent variables, and age, sex, education, body mass index, medical history of hypertension and heart disease, depressive mood, intake medicine, knee pain, and upperextremity pain as covariates. Changes in 5-m habitual walk (β = -0.207, P = 0.026) and peg moving task (β = 0.178, P = 0.042) showed significant association with change in cognitive function. These results suggest that deterioration of gait speed and hand dexterity is a useful sign for detecting cognitive decline.